Petroleum Coke Gasification

Published oil industry data36 show that there are 35 U.S. refineries producing more than 1000 tons per day of pet coke. A total of almost 95,000 tons per day of petroleum coke is 

35 Gray, D. and Tomlinson, G., Opportunities for Petroleum Coke Gasification Under Tighter Sulfur Limits for Transportation Fuels, Paper presented at the 2000 Gasification Technologies Conference, San Francisco, CA, October 8-11, 2000. 

Assuming that demand for petroleum continues to increase at a rate of 1.2% per annum to 2010,37 and that all gasoline and diesel produced by U.S. refineries will have a sulfur content of less than 30 ppm, desulfurization of gasoline and diesel to these low levels will require extensive hydrotreating of both catalytic cracker feed and product of distillate. 

Hydrogen availability is an important issue and refiners must be persuaded that gasification will prove to be as reliable a technology in the future as natural gas steam reforming is today. Many refineries produce sufficient pet coke to more than satisfy refinery hydrogen requirements. This would allow co-production of hydrogen and power or F-T liquids. 

37 Energy Information Administration Annual Energy Outlook 1999 With projections to 2020, DOE/EIA-0383(99), December 1998. 

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In 2000 Farmland Industries in Kansas started up a petroleum coke gasification plant to make ammonia. The plant uses Texaco s process to make 1000 tonnes per day of ammonia.185, 186 In 2004 Rentech purchased an 830-tonne-per-day ammonia plant in Illinois and plans to convert it from natural gas to coal feedstock. Startup of the conversion is expected in 20 07.300... 

In 1984, the Ube Ammonia Industry Co. began operating the largest Texaco coal gasification complex to date. This faciUty is located in Ube City, Japan, and has a rated gasification capacity of 1500 t/day of coal, and production capacity of 1000 t/day of ammonia. The plant has successfully gasified coals from Canada, AustraUa, South Africa, and China. At the present time the plant uses a mixture of petroleum coke and coal (43). 

Coal gasification is fuel flexible so that the process can use the most available feedstock at the best price. Gasifiers have successfully gasified hcar y fuel oil and combinations of oil and waste gas. Other possible gasification feedstock includes petroleum coke, trash, used tires, and sewage sludge. Various combinations of feedstocks and coal have been successfully gasified. 

Gasification technologies offer the potential of clean and efficient energy. The technologies enable the production of synthetic gas from low or negative-value carbon-based feedstocks such as coal, petroleum coke, high sulfur fuel oil, materials that would otherwise be disposed as waste, and biomass. The gas can be used in place of natural gas to generate electricity, or as a basic raw material to produce chemicals and liquid fuels. 

The TGP has been used to gasify conventional fuels such as natural gas, liquid petroleum fractions, coal, and petroleum coke for approximately 45 years. More than 67 gasification plants were either operational or under development worldwide in 1999. 

Ferguson, C.R., Falsetti, J.S., and Volk, W.P., Refining Gasification Petroleum Coke to Fertilizer at Farmland s Coffeyville, Kansas Refinery, Paper AM-99-13, paper presented at the NPR A 1999 Annual Meeting, San Antonio, TX, March 21-23, 1999. 

The ability to gasify different types of coal including low-rank coal and petroleum coke. The carbon conversion is over 98%. The amount of sulfur, oxygen, and ash in the coal does not significantly impact the Shell gasification process. 

Syngas produced from gasification of coal, biomass, petroleum coke, and other types of feedstock can be used to generate electricity or to produce hydrogen and other liquid fuels or chemicals (ammonia, methanol, dimethyl ether, and diesel fuel) by... 

Ultimately, human being may shift to non-fossil-fuel-based energy sources such as nuclear, solar, wind, and others in the near term, however, our reliance on oil imports can be alleviated by modifying the refining process with cheap H2 produced from coal, biomass, waste, or petroleum coke via the well-known gasification and shift processes. These provide a cheaper near-term solution to cut U.S. oil imports while simultaneously reducing GHG emissions.41... 

Gasification of coal, petroleum coke, biomass, or wastes with capture and secure storage of C02... 

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